Those who are interested in quickly and inexpensively growing an Instagram following should consider using one of the six Instagress alternatives mentioned in this article.

Instagram recently forced a popular social media automation platform calledInstagress to closeafter Instagram’s legal team determined that the marketing platform violated Instagram’s terms of service.

Users liked Instagress because it used automation to engage Instagram users through likes, comments and follows. Over time, this automated outreach helped Instagress users increase account awareness and grow followers.

Fortunately, there are a number of Instagress alternatives available, some of which have taken great pains to ensure that their platform conforms to Instagram’s terms of service. Those who are interested in quickly and inexpensively growing an Instagram following should consider using one of the six Instagress alternatives mentioned in this article.

Thanks to an advanced machine-learning algorithm designed to comply with Instagram’s terms of service, SocialDrift empowers social media marketers to target Instagram users with just a few clicks. To get started, SocialDrift customers provide the platform with targeting information to ensure that only members of a target audience are engaged. SocialDrift will then automatically like, comment on and follow the accounts of target-audience members, according to your preferences.

In time, this engagement will drive Instagram users to check out your own Instagram account. Many will end up following as a thank you for your outreach. Best of all, SocialDrift provides customers with an up-to-date dashboard that shows information related to bot activity and follower growth.

Rather than use algorithms to automate Instagram interaction, ViralUpgrade uses human account managers who do the heavy lifting for you. Customers provide ViralUpgrade with information that will help account managers target the right Instagram users.

The service provides customers with regular reports related to Instagram outreach activity and account growth, making it easy for customers to understand whether ViralUpgrade is producing meaningful results.

Though information is sparse about how Relaxed Social approaches Instagram outreach, the website does indicate that human account managers, rather than technology, do the outreach for you.

Pricing starts at $99 per month, and bulk discounts are provided to those who pay for multiple months in advance. Customer testimonials indicate that the service works well. Some say that Relaxed Social helped generate thousands of new, legitimate Instagram followers in the first month.

Used by companies like Shake Shack, Asos and Hyperbeast, Instaheap uses an algorithm to engage Instagram users through likes, comments and follows. Instaheap offers customers a 3-day free trial, after which users can choose from a $9-per-week or a $29-per-month option.

In order to ensure that Instaheap targets only members of a target audience, the platform gives users the option to blacklist specific accounts and to add negative keywords to targeting preferences. Users can target Instagrammers based on gender and location, among other variables.

For those who don’t want to leave the process of engaging Instagram users up to an algorithm or to an unknown account manager, Combin may be a good alternative. The platform is essentially a powerful Instagram search tool that makes it far easier to identify target users than it is on the actual Instagram platform.

Once targets are identified, Combin users can like, comment on and follow accounts from within the Combin tool. Best of all, Combin is designed to ensure that users engage Instagrammers in a way that conforms with Instagram’s terms of service. For example, Instagram limits the number of actions a user can take within a specific period of time to prevent spam. Combin will time outreach so that it conforms to Instagram’s activity filter.

Featured in Social Media Examiner and Entrepreneur, Kickstagram uses human outreach to connect with Instagram users through likes, comments and follows. The platform has received positive reviews from both Instagram influencers and small businesses.

Pricing starts at $149 per month, with discounts for those who purchase multiple months of outreach services in advance.

While Instagress is no longer an option when it comes to automated social media outreach, there are a number of Instagress alternatives that provide social media marketers with the ability to engage members of a target audience in a unique and meaningful way.

By incorporating one of the tools mentioned in this article, social media marketers will be able to make significant inroads on Instagram in short order.Opinions expressed here by Contributors are their own.

David is a professionally accredited leadership and marketing coach who works with young founders and early stage teams to help them navigate through emerging marketing opportunities with a current focus on artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Using the identification of new technological innovations that give way to different paths that can effectively reach customers, David is able to make marketing departments more effective, adaptable, and progressive.